Michal

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Sauna Cezar

Bielsko-Biala, Poland

Photographs by Michal Slaby

Bielsko-Biała lies in the corner of Silesia

This site is self-censored for nudity in a way that preserves the integrity of the human body. It may remain censored for as long as it is accessible to the public and public obscenity laws persist which stigmatize the human body and fetishize its sexual elements.

The human body is not dirty, but as long as there are people who deep down continue to think it is, I will make a point of obliging them by covering it all up whenever I please.

Michal, a cultural index

Michal makes movies to promote female empowerment... Does he think women are weak?

Oppression isn't something you can eradicate without learning how to listen. I don't just mean hearing words being spoken. To me, to listen to somebody is to consider their needs as if they were your own. That is a thankless task.

By teaching myself to listen to women, I'd like to give everyone a chance to become a better listener.

I've decided to export fine art handcrafted by women in Poland to America. High quality handcrafted art produced by high quality women deserves to be shared. The more I can sell stateside to people who know the difference, the more I can buy from those whose worthy hands to continue the fight for openness and equality, a fight that I've taken to the world wide web.

Help End Insider Trading With Art

Author's Note: I have been enjoined from sharing the details of my true romance adventure until such time that the other party is prepared to present her perspective on the affair arrangement...

When I arrived in Europe on the 20th of June, 2011, I had no plan and certainly no idea that by the end of the week I would be practicing photography with a woman I had never met, a naturist who had never before allowed herself to be photographed nude. It was the first of a whole series of firsts for the both of us.

Though I felt fully formed as a writer, and had been trained in visual language, it was my first time with a professional camera in my hands. I was just learning the ins and outs and had come to Europe to find as diverse a selection of subject matter as possible, preferably something that fit my aesthetic devotion to promoting body acceptance. Enter Margo.

I had an American passport. She didn't. And the fact that I was driving a car with Polish license plates gave her ample opportunity to point out the difference. It wasn't just police and border guards who ethnically profiled me. Regular folks did it too. One campsite owner didn't shake my hand until he realized I was an American. By that point, I had trained myself to use a simplified English, something that more closely resembled what passes for a lingua franca in Europe these days. Something Margo was trying very hard to master.

Each man grows up with his own kind of poverty. Even if he's got a warm house and plenty of food and a soft bed and plenty of entertainment, there's always something that a man needs. Sometimes he just needs to be listened to, if only by the birds and the trees, but preferably by another man, even if he's an artist from America who isn't very good at listening. By learning how to listen, we learn how to cooperate. By cooperating, we build a better world. In a better world, there are no devils to abuse us. A better world doesn't lend itself to abuse because a better world is populated by people who have learned how to listen.

During our trip across Europe, Margo very bravely opened up to me and to the camera. It was a difficult thing to do considering the scars that she carries. I wanted to share with the world her often joyful, often sad, often angry but always liberating experience except that the Internet is full of pictures of naked women and men and full of trolls who abuse them.

I realized that what I really need to point out is not the openness that Margo and I cultivated between ourselves, but the darkness that continues to surround us. When I censor nudity, I do so in a way that does not compromise the integrity of the human body. In censoring the photographs that Margo and I took during our trip, I was quick to notice that in those pictures where Margo was at her most open, at her most unguarded and most relaxed, in a word, when she was herself and basking in the sun I was forced to blacken her completely.

Why does our society drive people into darkness? Why can we not accept ourselves as we are? Why can we not accept our bodies? Have we truly become eunuchs? Or are we capable of defying the sickness that pits us against each other? Together we could conquer the devils that abuse us.

Whether you enjoy being nude or not, whether you've been photographed nude or not, but especially if, for you, like for Margo, it's something you never thought you would do, consider submitting your own photograph to be published in a censored manner as a form of protest against the ubiquitous presence of the human body on the internet, naked or not, that is published and duplicated ad infinitum without context and without regard for the identity or the needs of the individual being depicted.

If you would like to submit a comment or review of your own, fill out the comment form.

A little philosophy...

The three attributes of a word

Language is an assembly of words, therefore each individual word obeys the three rules of assembly: the rule of egalitarianism relates to a word's definition. It must be equal for all parties. The rule of association relates to the freedom of a word's connotation to drift. The rule of seniority applies to a word's identity, meaning that the people who have been responsible for using a word the longest have a conservative influence over its movement. The reach of a word along these three axes is described by the term cultural definition.

The three rules of assembly† were formulated as the product of personal observation while participating in the Occupy Movement's defense of Dilworth Plaza during the city government of Philadelphia's early morning ambush on the first of December, 2011. Rather than being a set of purely parliamentary rules, they are a description of the basic principles under which any assembly performs any kind of action as a group, whether it involves debate or not. They are the rules that distinguish such a group from a mob.

†As founding principles of a well-governed society, the three rules bear a relationship not only to the tripartite motto of Revolutionary France, Liberty, equality, fraternity, but to the evangelical counsels of the Christian New Testament on which Revolutionary ideals were based, namely poverty, chastity and obedience, whose definition during the past two millennia has been influenced to the detriment of mankind by the slave culture of Empire. A reassessment of the counsels under the guidance of Acceptance culture is the best way to push progressive religious and political reform further in the direction of ecumenism and internationalism.

Michal's Dictionary:Michal

Art is the expression of an idea. Often that idea is simply the form of the expression itself, the beautiful or not-so-beautiful shape of an otherwise meaningless gesture. This is decorative art. It encompasses everything from origami to cheap romance novels. It is popular and if you want to put a decorative print on your wall, you can buy one at a place like Ikea.

Most artists with ambition create documentary art, meaning the ideas embedded in their work relate to something beyond the undulations of their expressiveness. Instead of just making a new twist, they try to make that twist seem extra clever. It means something beyond being just a twist. In the most obscene cases, an artist won't even tell you what it means and suggests you figure it out for yourself. No other profession gets away with this. It's like a prostitute who says he's not sure if he does anal.

I try not to be clever. Trying to be clever is what I used to do when I was a child and I wanted attention. I try to be right. I try to discover the truth and pass it along. I try to trust my own judgment.

I've read most of the Bible. It's not a code of laws or something you put on your coffee table because it looks nice. It's one of the greatest documentary works of art ever compiled. When common people started reading it, the Reformation happened. Not everybody read the whole thing, nor did they necessarily understand what they did read, which is why not everything got reformed in the right direction. In their defense though, some parts of the Bible aren't even written in the right way. We all make mistakes. It doesn't mean we shouldn't keep working towards the right reform. That is the idea at the basis of the best art. It's the idea that I'm going to keep repeating because I am too old to be clever.

Pronunciation of Michal

I have yet to publish a pronunciation for the word Michal.

Video of me pronouncing "Michal."Your browser does not support the video tag.

Definition of Michal

I have yet to publish the definition of Michal.

I'm sure it won't take too long.

An index for Michal

Samples of Fiction from Michal's Corpus

Michal's Fiction Corpus of Acceptance Literature (FiCAL) is presented under the Bare Bottom imprint. It is currently comprised of six bodies of work, each representing a different pillar of culture and incorporating a wide variety of writhing styles.

Samples of Fiction: Table of Contents

How do I use this?

Just click on a title to see examples of "fiction" from a particular work. You'll stay on the same spot on the page, only the Table of Contents will disappear. To get back to the Table of Contents just click next to the image of the Bare Bottom imprint where it says "Back to Samples of Fiction: Table of Contents."“And...?”

In the case of common words, a Table of Frequency and a Table of Collocation provide numerical information about how many times a word appears in its original or modified form and with which words. It can help to give you an idea of how common words are used and in what contexts. Find them in the "Common Words of English" part of the Education section.“Ok.”

Why a Fiction Corpus?

The popular understanding of the word "fiction" and its complement "non-fiction" is a reflection of the cultural influence of a classification system. The Dewey Decimal System is responsible for separating "fiction" from all other work and categorizing it by author's name. This has influenced the popular idea of fiction as a narrative that tends to be "untrue" and the product of an individual's fantasy, a bias compounded by modern art's century-long obsession with abstraction, surrealism and self-expression.“So...?”

My idea of fiction rests on the idea that art doesn't have to be factual to be a true reflection of our existence. Adam and Eve didn't have to exist as two individuals 700 generations ago for them to be true portraits of two human beings trying to work together.“And...?”

The Bible is a Fiction Corpus. It is a body of writing that isn't overly concerned with facts and yet its words carry weight. It was written by many different authors living in different places with different audiences in mind, yet everyone gleans something from it.“Right...”

In preparing my fiction corpus, I have striven to see the world through the eyes of others. Through the eyes of my Adams and Eves I hope that you too will glean some truth about our existence. At the very least you will learn some more about how one man can use the English language.“Ok.”

Who are you, Michal?

I'm just a guy who makes art. And if you're interested in making a solid investment in an aesthetic that supports our present and future welfare, then I will help you look for something that you can buy.“How...?”

Everybody makes. Everybody sells. Some people know how to protect their interests. Some better than others. Few people know how to listen. Listening to somebody means considering their interests as if they were your own. Going out and doing something to satisfy another person's interest is how we build a strong economy. Without a strong economy, democracy collapses.“And...?”

Buying 4Occupy is buying for democracy. Don't give your money to somebody who's ruining it. There's no such thing as cheap democracy, quick democracy, or easy democracy. There's good, solid, complete democracy and the tyranny of feudalism. Let's not mix the two. Let's not buy everything on the cheap. Let's not create another tyrant and enslave ourselves because it was easier not to think about what we were doing. Let's protect our interests. Let's listen.“Ok.”

Who's really behind this site?

Have you ever been to one of those post-it-yourself retail websites where there's a really attractive top-seller ready to give you tips on how you can be a top-seller too?“Uh...”

Have you ever been to a "job" interview where you sit in a line, walk through one door, get hired as a contractor and walk out another door, so that the other applicants don't realize that everyone's getting "hired" to work in the same market?“Maybe...”

The internet is full of people who are ready to exploit your ignorance. They are people who want to make money at the expense of our economy. They are cheats.“And...?”

I, Michal, am behind this site. Not some fat plutocrat exploiting my image. I like to do things the right way. I like to work with people who take the time to do things right.“Why...?”

I used to work for a company that didn't do things the right way. My labor was exploited because of mismanagement. That company was the United States Postal Service, an independent agency of the United States Government that is ultimately controlled by Congress. I'm mad because if the Federal Government can exploit labor, who is going to stop every other cheat from doing it?“Labor Unions...?”

Don't say labor unions. I went to my labor union and they did nothing. They ignored me because labor unions aren't democracies. Holding a free and fair election for a "representative" once in a blue moon does not equal people ruling. Democracy means open government. It means we the public need to accept the hard work. It's the only way to secure liberty and equality.“Ok.”

What's the difference between use and usage?

Definition-wise, not much. But the -age suffix is ultimately French in origin and with most things French, at least in American eyes, the immediate thought is that of something precious and arcane whose value should be judged very carefully. This is in contrast to the word France, which is associated with a beautiful place. Thus people in France or from France are beautiful, warm, kind people. Generous even. Unlike French people who suck. Unless you're frenching, in which case you're only sometimes sucking.“And...?”

Along those lines, usage means you're in bed. Use means you're just heavy petting. Also notice that common people, like common words, get used...whereas "proper" things make "appearances." Whether or not you are being exploited is a different story. Exploitation is what happens when somebody uses you or your property without listening to you. Listening is what happens when you consider another person's needs as if they were your own. You don't have to satisfy those needs. All you need to do is consider them. So many of us can't even do that.“So...?”

Help stop exploitation. Buy 4occupy. Buy a better world. Whether or not you feel you can afford to buy art, consider joining my protest. I want to guarantee every working man and every working mother on this planet a 15-day universal holiday. But I can't. Only we can do that. We have to work together. We have to accept the idea that everyone deserves time for himself and we need to build that time into a new kind of calendar. We have to give peace it's own day. We have to make love something you can't avoid. We have to make even the most miserly cold-hearted capitalist among us say that he cashed his check on Love Your Neighbor Day. There won't be any other way to say it once the Acceptance Calendar is widely adopted.“Ok.”

Samples of Fiction from Death to McDonalds

A story bible for a comic book series set in a post climate-change California narrated by eight characters who live through a natural disaster that sinks Los Angeles and triggers a war with an expansionist Mexican government covertly supported by China.

Frame #7055

redbox was very frustrated at home. when she was young she moved away. she lived on her own for a few years and she made a lot of mistakes.

Samples of Fiction from The Gospel of Jesus H.

An experimental science fiction Christology that makes Jesus the hard boiled narrator of his own early years on a bizarro earth made dark by volcanic ash and informally ruled by a man from Mars who sells bottled air.

"Why shouldn't it be safe?" I said. "They're not hunting for us, are they?"

Some people gave themselves problems. Alcohol was the chief method. For many people, alcoholism was only a symptom. For others, it was what could only be described as a strange and tragically unnecessary life choice. In Treblinka, there was a couple nicknamed the model marriage. Every afternoon, they were seen stumbling hand in hand with wide smiles on their faces. They were drunk, having spent the entire morning walking around town, asking for spare change. "Thirty cents," the woman begged. "That's all I need: for bread." Meanwhile, the man always went to the soup kitchen at the convent. "And one for my wife," he would say, smiling. Then, he would take the soup outside and sell it to some slightly richer man for loose change. Afterwards, the woman went. "One for my husband, too," she would say, smiling. Then, she would sell some slightly richer woman some soup. After a while, the nuns got wise. They began insisting on eating in: no take-out. The model marriage moved elsewhere, having lost their primary source of income.

Jesus would've accepted more recruits, as many as applied, but he was afraid: not trusting anyone whose life he hadn't saved, Jesus subjected prospective Confederates to a rigorous test, which included securing a building completely on one's own. Candidates had no idea whether the building had already been cleared - they invariably had been, but even then: who knew what hid within their walls? Jesus even subjected members of his own family to the test. Sapper peed his pants while probing Town Hall. Jesus had unleashed a host of cats for the very purpose of scaring him. If not for that, Jesus would've sent him home; considering his own contribution to Sapper's mess, Jesus decided to take pity. His cousin was avenged, however, when Jesus made him his personal chef. That was a bad move.

These were only thoughts of momentary fascination. On the whole, Jesus pursued his work with interest. He did not test God. He applied himself and his men always with reason. When he entered St. Elizabeth's church all by himself in the middle of the night when there was no electricity around and killed the seven men hiding inside by stabbing their throats or otherwise, it was the most reasonable thing he could think of. When he sat on Sand Island waiting for Stalin or one of his other commanders to report, there wasn't anything else he could reasonably have done. He had already shown his men how to do it; now they had to go and do it: bravely - that's all. To the extent that they were unhindered by their own selfish desires, or the selfish desires of non-combatants, they were successful, and Jesus prosecuted his personal war against terrorism with admirable results.

Samples of Fiction from Sex for Children

A literature book narrated by a pair of siblings on either side of the Atlantic whose profoundly weird sexual experiences pose a serious challenge to their traditional understanding of mathematicians, marriage, gay young men and God.

Only one person had to be there: Jean-Christian. He was the only one asking questions, and he was trying to be as professional as possible - that is to say, he was trying to be stern. But Nike was now as full of spirit, anger, violent adoration, pain, and justice as the most honest of crusaders, and Christian had no way of holding him back. Only the sheets of his bed could restrain him - that, and the brutal reality of Nike's condition: that any movement of his lower body caused him extraordinary pain. Even Rothko was afraid of getting within reach of those arms, which now were lashing out in sudden bursts of energy: they would fly out, then gesticulate: and they were pointing, hammering, slashing no matter who was talking.

We were both diagonal to the shelf, and the left half of my body was directly behind the right half of yours. Suddenly, I became especially aware of our proximity. The feeling burst out of nowhere - it was muted, but still very powerful. I noted the connection between our proximity and the onset of the feeling. And then you moved. You shifted slightly closer to me, to the right, and then you shifted back. And the feeling reacted. It was responding to the movements of your organism.

Albert had called me the previous day, asking if it were 'alright' if he moved in tomorrow. I repeated my consent, and, with gratitude, he made one more request: he asked if I could drive him. I, of course, agreed, thinking nothing more of it, and, the next day, getting off at Holland Park Station, I crossed the perilous avenue, making my way around the corner and down the street. Olympia was kind enough to open the door for me.

Samples of Fiction from Tsiga Tsiga Tsiga

A collection of stories featuring a sexy Parisian ghost, a spooky Moon base full of vagina-faced aliens, a policeman with an Irish name, a truck full of watermelons, a flautist, and a man who has to see another man about a diseased horse.

"Don't be ridiculous." Bo shot Tae a dirty look. He was surprised how much it unnerved him. He tried unsuccessfully to hide his feelings. He spluttered, "Buddha will forgive you-so will Allah, His son Christ. As for my forgiveness, it will come at a high cost."

Bo raised an eyebrow. In a mocking tone, she asked, "What would that be?"

Tae had trouble concentrating on the argument. The man of average build was standing between two women. One was young. She had square shoulders. The other was middle-aged. Her breasts were enormous. She wore-like everybody else-a standard issue People's Liberation Army uniform. Her physique defied standards. The brown, woolen skirt mushroomed her belly. The top button of her white shirt was fastened; the bottom one, less so-the three in between had already popped.

Tae looked to the right. A meadow stretched for about half a mile. It thinned into desert. Mountains rose in the distance. In front of the ship, gentle hills dominated the landscape. To the left, a river ran next to a thick forest. Beyond that were more mountains. Tae walked to the bank. The man followed.

Their bare feet sank into the soft ground. The man said, "This river runs parallel to the equator."

Samples of Fiction from Sorry Ms. Jackson

A real play. With drama in it. Talk fast. It takes two hours. Set in a guest house. In a small community. After a murder. Lots of suspicion. The characters learn to listen to each other. It's funny.

LUKE: Sweetie.

ALICE: Please.

– ACT I, lines 177-178

(LUKE exits in a rush.)

ALICE: The devil knows what that's all about.

MS. JACKSON: Please excuse me.

ALICE: It's alright. Let me help you.

MS. JACKSON: I'm such a mess.

ALICE: Don't worry.

MS. JACKSON: I apologize for this.

ALICE: I've seen plenty worse.

– ACT I, lines 1075-1081

KOKOMO: I couldn't agree more.

ALICE: Luke was a real ladies' man before he met me. I practically had to jump into bed with him just to get kissed.

KOKOMO: That sounds awful.

ALICE: I got tired of waiting for him to make a move.

KOKOMO: In the end it did pay off.

ALICE: Sometimes you have to make things crystal clear.

KOKOMO: If only it were that simple.

ALICE: It is. Haven't you ever told Fletch how you feel?

KOKOMO: I like to pretend that I have - but I haven't.

ALICE: Do it. There's no sense in waiting. If you wait too long, you might not be around to say anything. That reminds me: Luke and I are leaving tonight. That letter he got from his manager was definitely bad news for me.

– ACT I, lines 1369-1378

ALICE: It was no big deal. It was some stupid kid with a knife.

FLETCHER: Was it sharp?

LUKE: She didn't have a chance to taste it.

FLETCHER: What did it look like?

ALICE: It was just a regular jackknife. It wasn't very big.

FLETCHER: What did he get away with?

ALICE: My purse.

LUKE: With everything in it.

ALICE: It was so stupid. The cops could've picked him up around the corner if they had just bothered to look. They were such pigs.

FLETCHER: Don't tell that to old Grey Goose! Australian cops guilty of misprision? He would go on a rampage.

The orbits of Captain Orbitz as told and retold by trillions of Orion systemizens, indeed systemizens from across many a galaxy, never fluctuated from their purpose of helping Captain Tycho "Tych" Orbitz conquer his home galaxy. Tych was firm from the day he resigned his commision as a courier in the Star Alliance to the day he vanished into space. Many were afraid he would come back. Many more hoped he would. They thought he was out pirating somewhere with Lalunia, his pheromonically irresistible great-great-great-great-niece, or ruling a planet with the beautifully blue Sara Lee, or fighting the jilted queen of the Astrazeneca or playing chess with CAROline the computer that loved him. They didn't know he was dead. They had no idea he had died long before he had even resigned his commission. Before he hijacked the tesseract marking the beginning of his rebellion or piloted the stolen ship Nautilus into the singularity the man had physically removed his own dead body from the bridge. He had no choice. At the time the ship was scheduled to be inspected by Star Alliance sanitation officers.

The Amazon was called. He decided Orbitz's exchange with the shopkeeper was a kind of code. He ordered that they both be watched. It wasn't hard to do. Orbitz didn't move from his hotel room. The shopkeeper stayed in his shop. Customers came hawking antique ray guns. There were bidets customized for extinct species. A collection of hand-painted mechanical snakes was ruefully turned down. After a few days the members of the surveillance team noticed something strange. The shopkeeper never bargained. If he made an offer to buy something it was invariably albeit grudgingly accepted. The rest of the junk he dismissed even if he liked it. "What a shame," he would say. "I wish I could afford it." In the same hour he would sell something for ten times its cost. He was making piles of money.

As a child Steve O was fed the dream of being a womanizer. His preteen idol was a teenage womanizer. His teenage idol was a college-age womanizer. By the time he got to college he had already made the transition to full-fledged letch. Strip them down to the socks was his motto. He practically moved in to the place where it happened. The dressing room.

Steve O was unperturbed. With the heart of a knight he admitted defeat, moved on with the beer, and soon discovered the meaning of the term easy prey. Conquest followed beer-goggled conquest. It was precisely in the middle of such a beer-fueled feast that Steve O had his first experience with the wrong end.

Love is the answer...

Are you a eunuch?

Still Life, Patriarchy

To promote democracy, the strong must empty themselves of their strength. The weak must be granted the opportunity to grow strong. We cannot force the end of patriarchy. To do so simply perpetuates feudalism under a different name.

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Our aesthetic...

What is Acceptance Art?

Acceptance means tolerating idiots. Acceptance means promoting democracy and the strength of the assembly. It means making sure that everybody is given a voice, even those among us who have been turned into eunuchs. The art of Acceptance is learning how to listen. Acceptance means opening your heart.

Acceptance will help us to ignore the Popes and Emperors and Presidents of our time who try to convince us that we are or should be eunuchs.

A Short History of Dictionaries

The word dictionary seems to have come into use in Europe first as the presumably made-up Latin term dictionarium meaning literally speak-chest, or place where you keep stuff that's spoken, the way a solarium means a place where you keep little bits of the sun. Now whether a solarium in practice means a room full of windows or a place where you keep an artifical tanning bed is a cultural matter. Similarly, what might be contained in any specific book calling itself a dictionary is a matter of priority based on a publisher's cultural goals, of which there could be many that despite an author's best intentions may conflict with each other. Deciding which dictionary supports which pillars of culture and how they do it and how well they do it is a process that every dictionary user can benefit from. It's a matter of getting to the bottom of things.

An alphabetical index of dictionaries with links to their chronological entries.

American Heritage Dict. of American English

The Heritage strives to polish up the giant block that Webster left in the pillar of education.1969

Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

The Cambridge Learner's Dictionary builds the pillar of education.2003

Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English

The Concise Oxford steered the Oxford brand away from science and towards the pillar of education.1911

The Urban Dictionary builds the pillar of assembly as well as the pillar of art, sometimes in a way that would presumably make Samuel Johnson proud - oftentimes not.1999

Wikipedia

Wikipedia builds the pillar of education in the tradition of Webster.2001

Wiktionary

Wiktionary strives to build both the pillar of education and the pillar of science.2002

Wordnik

Wordnik is a website building the pillars of science, art and assembly.2009

A chronological account of dictionaries starting from the present-day

2011 – Oxford Advanced American Dictionary for Learners of English

As with most dictionaries today, the lexicography practiced by Oxford University Press owes much to the computer analysis of digitized corpora, although the efforts of Albert Sydney Hornby back in the early half of the last century to orient dictionaries towards non-native speakers has seen in recent years numerous imitators among the leading publishers of reference material. Even the folks at Oxford University Press have seen fit to produce an offspring of Hornby's Advanced Learner's Dictionary oriented towards an American English learning audience.

2010 – Oxford Dictionaries Online

The folks at the Oxford University Press soon realized that the crowdsourced project they had invested in, guided by the Philological Society and supported at certain times by hospitalized lunatics, had more often than not focused on weird stuff and that many of the 2 tons of quotation slips that had been gathered were examples of how most people don't use words.

2009 – Wordnik

Wordnik has social features, such as the ability to make comments and themed lists and a record of favorites, but the thing that really distinguishes it from other online lexicographical sites is the fact that it offers you a lot of example sentences.

2003 – Sketch Engine

When I last checked, Sketch Engine was offering access to corpora as large as 10 billion words. That's much larger than a traditional corpus such as the Brown Corpus, which with just 1 million words became the citation basis for the American Heritage Dictionary back in 1969. Compare that to Google's N-Grams Corpus, the product of Google's book scanning program, which at 155 billion words weighs in as the largest English-language corpus in the world. Sketch Engine has been brought to us by Lexical Computing Ltd since 2003 and is a great way to study collocation, or the pattern of one word occurring in close proximity to another.

2003 – TheFreeDictionary by Farlex, Inc

Rather than being an actual dictionary, TheFreeDictionary.com is better understood as being a search engine like OneLook that uses a computer program to show you material from other sources.

2003 – Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary

The Cambridge International Dictionary of English was published in 1995 and from 2003 was published as The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, perhaps out of respect and/or as a way of gaining the respect that people have for the original Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, the perception that Cambridge is Oxford's little sister being somewhat well-attested.

2002 – Wiktionary

As an open online dictionary, Wiktionary has a simpler and somewhat better defined acceptance policy than similar projects, for example if usage of a word is not clearly widespread or at least featured in a well-known work, its usage must be attested in a permanent medium in at least three independent instances spanning at least a year.

2002 – Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners

In the spirit of the Oxford Learner's Dictionary and the Longman Dictionary, the English Dictionary for Advanced Learners first published by Macmillan in 2002 also defines words with a limited set of other English words and provides numerous illustrative example sentences.

2001 – Wikipedia

The attempts of volunteer editors to reach consensus over issues such as article deletion would indicate that an encyclopedia, rather than being a comprehensive summation of human knowledge should more appropriately be understood as a cultural dictionary that is subject to the same often contradictory cultural purposes that Webster and other creators of linguistic dictionaries were incapable of avoiding.

1999 – Urban Dictionary

The Urban Dictionary is perhaps the best example of a legitimate dictionary that provides a benefit for the artistic and scientific spheres of culture at the expense of the educational and commercial spheres.

1997 – Reference.com

In addition to Reference.com, InterActiveCorp also most recently has a hand in companies and websites such as Newsweek (now part of The Daily Beast), Vimeo, Match.com, Ask.com and About.com.

1996 – OneLook Dictionary Search

When I last checked, OneLook had 19 and a half million words indexed in over a thousand dictionaries, most of them being specialist dictionaries of no use to folks who aren't looking for a Gaelic homonym for casserole.

1996 – The Online Slang Dictionary

The democratic nature of its compilation and features such as vulgarity voting would probably please Webster if he were around to see it, although he might be worried that the very idea of a slang dictionary is leading people astray from the self-improvement and common "federal tongue" he worked so hard to foster.

1978 – Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

Hopefully the fact that all the definitions are written using only 2000 words should help. 2000 is still a lot of words and I wonder how many of them are part of the 3000 most frequent words in spoken and written English that Longman highlights. Hopefully nobody from the American Heritage Dictionary is angered by my use of the word hopefully.

1969 – American Heritage Dictionary of American English

The American Heritage Dictionary was first published in 1969 as a reaction to the liberal outlook of Webster's Third New International Dictionary, which quite shockingly or quite appropriately, depending on how you look at it, refused to tell people how to speak, eschewing such labels as "colloquial," "incorrect," or "improper."

1948 – Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English

The Advanced Learner's Dictionary was original published as the Idiomatic and Syntactic Dictionary in Japan on April 20, 1942 and is still in print there. Everywhere else (except China, which in those days was under the brutal occupation of Japan) it became the Oxford Dictionary of choice for students of English who aren't ready for the big time.

1911 – Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English

The Tenth Edition of 1999 was based on the recently compiled New Oxford Dictionary of English, thereby becoming the first edition adjusted according to a computer analysis of a digitized corpus of literature.

The Concise Oxford has a popular claim to fame as the dictionary originally used on the British game show Countdown, the Tenth Edition being involved in a controversy on the show due to its lack of compound words.

1898 – Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary

The first firm to print Webster's Dictionary after his death was J.S. & C. Adams in 1844. The next year George and Charles Merriam of Springfield, Massachusetts secured the rights.

1828 – Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language

Noah Webster was born in West Hartford, Connecticut and went on to become a pioneering writer and reformer. He is considered by many to be the founding father of American scholarship and education. His name became synonymous with the idea of a dictionary, but that was long after he was dead. In the beginning, times were rough.

Noah eventually got smart and married into the Hartford elite, which didn't mean he had a lot of cash but it did give him connections. Alexander Hamilton had to loan him $1500 so he could move to New York City and edit a Federalist newspaper. Noah took that idea and ran with it. He not only founded the first daily newspaper in New York, he went on to publish all kinds of books and articles and reports on diseases, often gaining him the scorn of more "decent" folk in the Federalist party who were too snobbish for that sort of thing.

Webster's revolutionary zeal seeped into his attempts to improve American education. Rejecting old world emphasis on Greek and Latin and snobbish ideas about grammar and pronunciation, Webster felt that the people themselves should be in control of their language. So he made things simple. By 1837, his well-ordered spelling book had sold 15 million copies. By 1890, 60 million.

In contrast, Webster's first dictionary only sold 2,500 copies. Despite the lack of recognition, and the denunciations of cultural snobs, he immediately began expanding it. To ensure the authenticity of his etymologies, he studied twenty-six languages and traveled abroad. After 18 years, Webster had compiled a dictionary of 70,000 words, a large portion of which had never before been indexed. He introduced many modern spellings of words that have lasted to this day, such as wagon instead of waggon. Despite being criticized by some as vulgar, Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language went on to dominate the English-speaking world. Poets such as Emily Dickinson swore by it.

To learn more about Webster's life and influence, consider a great book by Joshua Kendall that doesn't shirk from giving a complete picture of the man, obsessions and all.

1755 – Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language

Samuel Johnson was asked to write the dictionary in 1746 by a bunch of London's most successful printers, including coincidentally a certain Thomas Longman. Dictionaries were getting bigger and bigger and no one person felt he could afford to print it. Curiously, the group of businessmen felt that one man could afford to compile it.

It took the man about nine years to finish all the work, which, incredibly he did almost entirely by himself. The only help he got was in copying out all the quotes he had marked up in his copies of famous English works.

There are a lot more dictionaries out there to be explored. To get a clear look at how much of a cultural window a dictionary can be, consider browsing entries catalogued by fat Captain Grose back in 1785 under the title Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, a dictionary OF BUCKISH SLANG, UNIVERSITY WIT, AND PICKPOCKET ELOQUENCE.

To get some insight into what kind of a person does a thing like write a dictionary (besides me), I recommend reading some of Douglas Harper's articles on culture. He's a historian whose entry for the word dictionary in his Online Etymology Dictionary I hyperlink to in the introduction to this section. His thoughtful and honest writing on topics such as the promotion of physical desire or the study of sexuality contrast well with more impassioned articles in defense of the under-appreciated American "middle-man" or the connotative strength of a comparison of historic French slavery in the New World with the record of slavery in what is now the United States, a topic of particular interest for Mr. Harper and one which is at the top of no doubt many an American's cultural agenda.

Help me maintain the "Michal" page alive...

What was once an art gallery and coffee shop is now an "apartament" in Bielsko Biała - that is to say, beautiful accomodations!

The Vagina Cafe was a living example of Acceptance art that bridged the gap between the seven pillars of culture...

Situated inside the courtyard of a beautiful pre-war building in the town of Bielsko-Biała, there once was a cafe dedicated not only to a decent cup of coffee, not just to an excellent vegetarian meal, not even to the special ambience created by the expert hand of its one-of-a-kind hostess...

Above all "Vagina," as it was called in its native Poland, was dedicated to improving the life of the average Polish woman, through workshops and monthly get-togethers, through sponsorship of local sporting and social events, through its constant presence during the many crisis-filled years of our world's recent past...

The Vagina Cafe strove to remind people that "Vagina" is not a dirty word and that every woman deserves a place that isn't defined by four walls and a ceiling but by the people who welcome her in it, by the people, both male and female, who accept her presence as an equal.

The Vagina Cafe isn't now just a memory; it lives on in my heart and in my dedication to improving the lives of women and thereby the quality of civilization of the world at large. I am proud to say that far from being cold and shuttered, the Vagina Cafe lives on as "Vagina Night," an apartment for rent like no other that keeps the adventurous traveler to Bielsko-Biala warm and cozy - thanks largely to the enormous chimney whose installation I helped to finance.

It is my humble honor to represent the art of the fine ladies of the Silesian region, which cradled me in birth, to my fine and fellow citizens of the United States, who nurtured me into adulthood. Please share with me this noble initiative!"

Margo went the distance to entertain, enliven, and enrich her community...

Drawings from the Vagina Cafe menu by Michal Slaby

The hard work helped give a lot of women a sense of confidence and strength...

The Vagina Cafe may be gone, but the spirit of Vagina continues. Long live Vagina Night!

If you know a Polish speaker or two trying to learn English, tell them to try it out!

Are you buying this?

What?I import contemporary art to the United States from Europe... That includes icons, drafts, models, cultivars, hand-crafted merchandise and tools, documents and records. It's not so much the shape of the art that's important. It's the aesthetic that counts.

Embedded in every true art piece is a philosophical message... - an idea, whose expression determines the work's ultimate value. Before you invest in a piece of art you need to consult a person who knows what he's talking about.

Who?The vast majority of artists have gone to an academy to try to master a particular technique... Before I became a practicing artist, I earned a degree in Art History from Georgetown University. I wanted to know where art had come from and what people of succeeding generations had valued in that work.

Understanding the history of art and the history of civilization in general is crucial... to knowing where the practice of art is truly heading. It's one thing to paint in a striking manner or to decorate a piece of pottery in a beautiful way. It's quite another to create paintings or pottery that represent the ideas that succeeding generations will come to embrace rather than abandon.

I can't predict the future... I don't know with certainty how the value of the art that I represent will grow or what the reputations of my fellow artists will be in the years to come. I can claim that my work and the work that I put forward represents a desire to create a new and better world through hard work and innovation rather than reacting to corruption and vice with self-satisfied irony and cleverness.

The art that represents the values of a better tommorow will bring the best return on your investment.

Whose? Which?There are historic and demographic reasons why the artists of Silesia are best positioned to create the art of tomorrow... The pre-war German population of Silesia was expelled by Soviet military and political forces not long after the capitulation of the Nazi regime. This was accompanied by territorial expansion at the expense of the German state by its neighbors to the east.

People from diverse communities came from all across Eastern Europe to settle in Silesia... - people of different faiths, different dialects, and different histories found themselves next door to each other in a place whose traditions they didn't know. They were compelled to learn how to listen.

Two generations have passed since those terrible days of exile and resettlement... Institutions have grown. Prosperity continues to be nurtured. With prosperity has come the opportunity to express the unique tradition of Silesia through the many voices of the artists whose work I have described for you here.

Where?I find the work in Silesia - in Poland - in Europe... I purchase it and at my own risk and cost I export it to the United States, where my family has a home at 201 Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, New Jersey.

When?I am a self-financed independent artist... I don't have a trust fund or wealthy relatives. I worked as a rural letter carrier at the post office in West Milford and I still use the money I earned delivering mail to finance everything from my personal expenses to the Vagina Cafe's new chimney to the art collections you see described here.

I am not an international corporation... I am a hard-working American who was born in Silesia in Poland and who wants the best for both of his countries. I am a citizen diplomat. I continuously export this art as my resources allow because I think it's a good investment. Please consider purchasing something you like even if it's not yet available stateside. Your purchase gives me the confidence I need to keep going.

How?All purchases must be paid by USPS Money Order... This is a safe and cost-effective financial instrument. Each USPS Money Order up to $500.00 costs $1.20 and each order from $500.01 up to $1,000.00 costs only $1.60.

Make each money order payable to M. Slaby at 201 Ridge Road in West Milford, New Jersey... and have it sent to the same address. The postal code is 07480-3112. Be sure to at least mark the envelope with the lot and item number you wish to purchase - that way, if the item becomes unavailable I can simply have the envelope returned to you without even opening it. Be sure to save your receipt for the money order from the post office in order to reclaim your money.

If you want your money credited automatically to a similar item... once it becomes available or to a different item entirely just let me know by at least marking the envelope with the word "credit." It doesn't hurt to put your calling card in the envelope so I know how to contact you should the need arise.

I don't cash your money orders until your purchase is safely in the United States... and I'm in the process of sending you a receipt. However, it would greatly please me if you would like to make the sum of your money order available to me as a loan at no interest, which might be needed to expediate the export of a given lot. If that would please you then by all means please let me know by at least marking the envelope with the word "loan." I would sincerely appreciate it as one small businessman to another.

Why?Money orders are safe and cheap... It's one of the many services provided by the United States Postal Service that I believe in - despite having personally resigned from the Service because of its exploitation of labor. Unfortunately, the banks that issue credit cards exploit people even more and I don't relish the idea of giving away two percent of the value of every transaction in exchange for the convenience of using credit information to facilitate trade. It's a racket that traps consumers and cripples merchants while benefiting primarily the monied interest that rules our somewhat democratic Republic.

Art shouldn't be bought on credit... A wise man invests his savings into fine art to avoid inflation and to potentially profit from the support given to a contemporary artist whose skill is readily perceived. There is also the joy to be felt from possessing a unique artifact of human ingenuity and the pride that comes from participating in its maintenance. This feeling is priceless.

Michal's exporting art...is he gaga?

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Michal's Sales PitchLot 1: Silesian Handicrafts

T-shirt fundraiser for sale

Last T-Shirt with the logo that I designed.

From a set of, I believe, twenty produced by Margo and given out to a portion of the last 20 women to finish the 20th anniversary Fiat Road Race in Bielsko-Biała, cf. the movie. This is the last one left in it's original packaging and my supporters - like the poor women of Bielsko - are going to have to fight for it. Whoever invests the most money with me, and who lets me borrow it to invest in the next lot, will not only be rewarded with some beautiful piece of art, but will get this priceless t-shirt as a reward for being my top supporter. $1000.00 or best offer. Remember to authorize me to hold the sum as credit against a future purchase and to authorize me to borrow against it.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #1 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #2 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

Decorative collar for sale

Decorative collar by Zuzanna.

Ethnic layered cloth jewelry constructed on a cotton base and adorned with ribbons, tassels, and a yellow fringe. Fastened on the side with 11 buttons, fitted entirely with a pleasant lining. The style is an Indo-Asian-African multinational color combination. The collar is very extravagant and an extraordinary addition to any clothing, guaranteed to attract attention. Just a simple dress and a unique image is ready. Dry-cleaning recommended. Available now for $200.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #3 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

Seamless handbag for sale

Handbag by Sylwia.

Handmade from felted all-natural Australian and South American wool. Entirely felted, seamless. Finished with a white lining, inside is a small pocket. Lining is sewn and stitched in by hand. Available now for $180.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #4 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

Patchwork quilt for sale

Patchwork quilt by Alicja.

Bedspread made of cotton and polyester material. Inserted with polyester lining. 90 by 70 cm. Available now for $120.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #5 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

Nuno-felt shawl for sale

Shawl by Sylwia.

Scarf made ​​with the nuno felting technique (wet felting fibre into a silk gauze) using South American wool. Two-sided scarf with latticework at the ends. Wholly in the colors red, black, green in an abstract pattern. Available now for $100.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #6 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

Clara the doll for sale

Clara by Alicja.

Clara loves roses and greenery, adores tormenting spiders with long legs and sleeping soundly in the afternoon. Cuddly toy made of cotton and polyester, stuffed with polyester lining. Available now for $70.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #7 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

Noah the doll for sale

Noah by Alicja.

Noah doesn't know what to like and what not to like but keeps wondering and thinking about it. Cuddly toy made of cotton and polyester, stuffed with polyester lining. Available now for $70.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #8 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

Black suspenders for sale

Black suspenders by Zuzanna.

Two-sided suspenders from black material with a rose motif on one side and striped cotton on the other. Connected by a leather triangle. Adjustable length. Hand washing in cold water recommended. Available now for $50.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #9 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

Orange suspenders for sale

Orange suspenders by Zuzanna.

Two-sided suspenders made of denim and orange material with a Polish floral folk design. Connected by a leather triangle. Adjustable length. Hand washing in cold water recommended. Available now for $50.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #10 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

Green suspenders for sale

Green suspenders by Zuzanna.

Two-sided suspenders made of denim and green material with a mountain folk design. Connected by a leather triangle. Adjustable length. Hand washing in cold water recommended. Available now for $50.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #11 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #12 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #13 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #14 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

'Coral' necklace for sale

Corals by Sylwia.

Necklace made ​​of cotton pieces with organdy and decorated with beads, suspended on cotton strings. Can be worn as a necklace, as a brooch or as a belt tied at the side. Available now for $40.00. Ships free of additional charge via USPS (uninsured) unless otherwise directed.

To purchase please mail a USPS money order in an envelope clearly marked Lot #1/Item #15 to M. Slaby at house number 201 on Ridge Road in the town of West Milford, in the state of New Jersey, one of the beautiful United States of America. The postal code is 07480-3112.

About the site...

About the name...

My personal policy...

My privacy policy...

Copyright information...

Photo montage by Michal Slaby

Copyright information...

Do not abuse another's work

The internet is a medium that seriously challenges society's understanding of copyright. In order to view a web page, an internet user makes a copy of it. So anyone writing "All rights reserved" at the bottom of their page is writing nonsense. By publishing on the web they've implicitly waived the right to control how many digital copies are made. That said, if you want to quote me, quote me. Tell your audience where you got the content from. Never try to pass yourself off as me. You will embarrass yourself. Do not scrape content from this site. You're going to hurt yourself. Do not plagiarize me. You will look like a fool. Find your own voice. People want to hear it - even if your boss tells you otherwise. If your words are important, they will be shared. If you gorge yourself on another's man's corn, start tilling his field.

My privacy policy...

I have faith

I pursue commercial transactions in good faith. I follow up on enquiries in good faith. I listen to propositions in good faith. I consider submissions for listings and comments in good faith. I don't like ninjas who lure me into traps. If you are a ninja who does something like that, you will make me think twice about respecting your privacy. Otherwise, why would you worry about it? This site is hand-coded. If a mistake has been made it's not because I'm incompetent. More than likely it's because I've been distracted by somebody else's mistakes and I can't tell you about them because respecting people's privacy is considered such a great thing. I like it too, but I don't fetishize it. Sometimes a little public air is what the issue needs, even if it means feeling a little humiliated.

My personal policy...

My name is on the line

I choose not sell or promote a piece of art unless I'm confident it will appreciate in value. That is a fiduciary duty. Nor will I hide an artist who may still be in the process of formation and who needs to be trusted. That is an aesthetic duty. I won't act like you're wasting my time just because you're an idiot. I won't roll my eyes because for some reason you're not ready for the high-end. That is a democratic duty.

I want better art in my hands and in your hands. I want something we can both be proud of. I won't waste your time or my time trying to talk you into something you don't need. If you don't need art, close the page and don't come back. Otherwise don't be intimidated. Be prepared to face my judgment. Be prepared to protect your own interest. I can't do it for you. I'm an artist doubling as an art dealer. I'm not your lawyer. I have to protect the art first. Then I have to protect the artists I work with. If you're in the process of becoming a true art collector, that's your policy too.

About the name...

Why 4Occupy?

It doesn't matter what your opinion is of the Occupy movement. At best a bunch of loony freedom fighters or at worst a terrorist mess. You may not even realize that it still exists and that it's still maturing or that it's done a lot of great work providing disaster relief.

What's important is that you know what my opinion is. Yes, it's important that you listen to me: Michal. That's what Occupying teaches me to do. I'm constantly learning how to listen to myself and to others especially when I'm pushing myself to listen to a bunch of loons. You can't govern well unless you know how to listen and democracy will never succeed until we all know how to consider another person's needs as if they were our own. Give yourself the power to accept a prayer. Be 4Occupy.

About the site...

Whose art? What kind of art?

This is a curated hand-coded online art gallery. It has standards. Those standards are dictated by the aesthetic principles of its owner.

I, Michal Slaby, commit myself to practicing a culture of Acceptance. I have little patience for feudalism. I'm talking about the Lords and Ladies who seat themselves atop a pillar of culture and look down upon the world. I favor people of the world. I favor outsiders. I favor artists who are cultivating their ability to listen.

I have no time for the art of yesterday. I have no time for the cesspool of abstraction. I have no time for people who are trying to be clever. This is a site for honest, hard-working artists no matter what their training.